All Books

The strongest installment of Titan so far. The plot is its strength - a classic Trek tale in which an apparently simple good versus evil scenario becomes much more morally complicated once the full picture becomes clear and leaves the crew wondering which side, if any, they ought to take. It also takes the concept of space-faring life, a feature which Trek too often uses as "space monster of the week", and expands it into a full space-faring ecosystem in a very satisfying way. It even manages to have a go at explaining the stranger aspects of the "space jelly" species from Encounter at Farpoint. Someone at Paramount should seriously consider this plot as a basis for a future Trek movie, it is that good. And CGI would do wonders for the various space-faring species. Character development is a little less prominent than the previous two books, but we know the Titan crew better now, so this isn't a real weakness. This is a must-read.

In terms of writing style, this book is very similar to Taking Wing - that is to say, excellent. The balance between action and character development is again spot on. The character development is great and picks up on several threads from the first instalment. The storyline seems much more epic than Taking Wing because the characters are into it from page one and it has the entire book to develop. The emphasis on the diversity of the crew and the aliens the crew encounter is certainly a step apart from the TV series - we even encounter an alien who can separate its body parts - but I think one of the strengths of Trek novels is that, without a make up budget to worry about, they can have a diverse crew. However, I just think the authors go a bit overboard with the whole diversity message. The crews of both the Titan and the Neyel vessel are so unbelievably diverse that it starts to get a bit ridiculous. Guys, we got it about halfway through the first book - diversity is great and we all have to work to overcome our prejudices. Ease off for a while!

A great start to a new series which has the benefit that we are already familiar with several of the characters and has the story of Nemesis and the whole of TNG to build on. The book is very well written and strikes a very satisfying balance between action and character development which keeps the momentum of the story rolling throughout. If I had to make a criticism it is that the story feels a little hurried, as the first third of the book is spent introducing the crew and preparing for launch. As such the A-plot of the book - the Romulan power struggle - progresses and is resolved a little too quickly for me, it is not quite of the same epic proportions as, say, Nemesis. That aside, I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the whole series.

I am just so into the Mirror Universe. It gives Star Trek the chance to let its hair down a bit, have some fun with its characters and tell whole new stories unrestricted by too much canon. The Mirror Universe series has done this really well so far and is a great read. Part 1 is Voyager-based and puts an interesting spin on the often-debated question of Mirror Voyager by having the Caretaker's Array work in reverse and propel Neelix and Kes into the Alpha Quadrant. Many of the characters shine but Harry Kim is a standout as the toughest borderline psycho since Mirror Reed. It is the strongest part of the book and tells a really gripping yarn. Part 2 is based on New Worlds and features a rather different path for Mackenzie Calhoun. I haven't read any New Worlds but enjoyed the story anyway. Part 3 is the latest instalment of Mirror DS9, following on from the last Mirror episode of the TV series. It is pretty solid and very entertaining but feels more like an episode and further episodes are clearly planned. I took off a mark for the quality of writing, which is at times a little sloppy. Also I would strongly recommend reading Glass Empires first, as this book refers frequently to Spock's Terran Republic, which is covered in that book. This book moves the many strands of the Terran rebellion forward one step; I am looking forward to the next instalment.